While Tarsier Studios’ upcoming game is no longer called Hunger, the thematic undertones of that name is still very present in Little Nightmares. Within the underwater confines of the Maw, grotesque chefs hack at slabs of meat to prepare feasts. Emaciated limbs reach out through the corridors like fingered tendrils blindly seeking their next meal. It’s from this grimy industrial abattoir that young heroine Six must escape.
Clad in a distinctive yellow raincoat, Six is a splash of color within the bleak looming spaces of the Maw. It’s visually clear that she doesn’t belong among these horrors, as she creeps and climbs through busy kitchens, narrow vents, over-sized bedrooms, and other more sinister areas. Little Nightmares promises to be equal parts whimsical and unsettling, childhood horrors made manifest. Sneaking is not empowering stealth, but hide and seek with ruthless inhabitants. Puzzles and platforming is playful tactile interactions with the world, dragging and pushing items, using the machinery and tools found on the Maw’s different levels.
But darkness lurks behind that surreal exterior. A deep pit of discarded shoes. Petrified figures under spotlights and within cages. Hungry leeches waiting in puddles of viscera. The dirt-crusted impossibly long arms that reach out for Six from the darkness. Death and unsettling imagery is as much a part of the Maw and Little Nightmares as its physics-based puzzles and exploration.
Little Nightmares is slated to release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on April 28th. You can learn more about the game and developer Tarsier Studios on their site and Twitter.
